Trusting You
by iluvaqt
Summary: Patriot S10E09 tag and a missing Chlo-Lo scene from Lazarus. Lois visits Watchtower and keeps her cool until she gets Clark in confined quarters where he can't make a speedy escape.


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**Title:** Trusting You  
**Pairing:** Clois, Chlollie mention  
**Summary**: Lois visits Watchtower and keeps her cool until she gets Clark in confined quarters where he can't make a speedy escape.  
**Rating: **PG  
**Word count:** 3012  
**Setting: ** tag to Patriot S10E09  
**Fandom:** Smallville  
**With thanks for the Beta**: **fickery**

**Disclaimer:** "_Smallville_" is the property of WarnerBros & The CW. Everything else belongs to DC Comics. No infringement of copyright is intended.

- 8 -

**Previously**

Lois finished up the jobs in her in-tray and texted Chloe to meet up for a quick debrief on Africa-if she could fit it in between all the hours Oliver had her working with his tech R & D department.

During the three-hour drive home, not so much as a one-word answer from her MIA cousin. She really hadn't had much face time with Chloe at all since Oliver landed in the hospital with suspiciously familiar burns on his chest. Interesting how not more than a month after he'd been discharged, that very same burn pattern that had been scorched into iconic monuments around the world, right around the time that every country's operational satellites also went offline. She had strong reason to believe that it was all linked to Mr. FBI, the Blur impersonator-she'd seen the reaction Chisholm had to him. She'd called him one of the aliens. She remembered seeing his dog tags. That symbol, the alien symbol on the monuments, was his. She trusted Clark, though. When the sun had broken through the clouds and the rain had come, he'd stood up. He might have been near death before, but as long as he was around, they were safe. He'd deal with the impersonator.

The Daily Planet had reported a similar blackout, but this morning their systems were already back online. She could assume that most companies had been able to access redundancy systems and reboot. She was wondering if Queen Industries had suffered a similar tech problem and that's what was keeping Chloe incommunicado.

So what she didn't expect, walking through the door for a shower and a change, was Chloe hastily rushing around the room, like she was ready to head for the nearest bunker to avoid the oncoming tornado.

"Whoa, slow down cuz, what's the 411? Did I miss the memo on twister alert or...wait. Something else is going on here, isn't it? Did you and Ollie...?" She watched Chloe freeze for a second before she seemed to slide into Robot Chloe mode right in front of her. Lois grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to slow down. "Hey, you can talk to me, you know that, right? I mean, I unload on you, and you're my baby cuz. We used to talk all the time. I know I haven't been the greatest at being there lately, but if something is wrong you know you can talk to me. No judgments here. Although if Ollie did something, I can put the smackdown on his ass and I also know where he hides his favorite compound bow." Not even the flicker of a smile. Lois knew this meant DEFCON 3 was in effect.

"I just... I need to get away for awhile, Lo," Chloe said, flopping down on the bed and twisting her hands together restlessly. "I haven't taken a vacation in years. I should have. When everything went south with my job at the Planet, I should have taken a break. Damn it, I even could have gone back to school with a full study load and finished my degree in journalism. But Lana left, and then there that DDS thing, which we know wasn't the DDS, and then I got married and Jimmy... Lo, somewhere along the way I forgot about me. I don't know who I am anymore and I need this time out. Just for awhile, just till I get things figured out," she said, looking up to meet Lois' eyes. Her own eyes were glazed with tears, imploring her cousin for understanding.

Lois heaved a soft sigh and sat next to Chloe, squeezing her hands. "I think I get it. Perry offered me a job in Africa and while I want to stay and figure things out with Clark, I'm starting to think that maybe I need this for me. To figure out where I need to be and what I want to do with my life."

Chloe nodded, grateful that Lois was buying her story and not probing any deeper.

"So you're sure this has nothing to do with this no-strings, no-labels fun thing with Ollie which we both know is so much more than that?" Lois asked with a pointed look.

Chloe groaned inwardly-so much for Lois letting it go-and put on her best poker face. If anyone was gonna get needing time, it would be Lois. The first time Clark kissed her she'd disappeared for two weeks. When all else failed, go with the truth. At least all the truth that she could muster. "He said he loves me, and I said it back."

Lois' face broke out in a wide grin before she read Chloe's apprehensive expression and her smile fell. "Oh! Oh," she repeated more quietly. "Take all the time you need, little cuz. But just for the record, Ollie's a great guy, and I knew all along that you two were meant for each other. He loves you and you love him, even if you are running right now. You'll be back. And I guess this is kind of test for him too, huh? Love someone and you let them go, then you know when they come back to you, it's the real deal," she finished with a wink. She hugged Chloe tightly. "So where to?"

Chloe sighed. "Not sure yet. Thought maybe a European trip. Always wanted to visit Keukenhof."

Lois smiled. "Tulips, right." She stood up, throwing open her closet, rummaged through her things for clean clothes and kissed Chloe's temple on her way to the bathroom. In her mind, it was crisis averted and a job well done.

"Right," Chloe mouthed softly, waiting for the bathroom door to close before hastily zipping her suitcase shut.

She was driving it to Metropolis International, where she was leaving it in Long Term Parking. By the time she met with her contact who was going to initiate the exchange, the sub-program she'd planted in Watchtower's systems would have completed its work and all traces of Chloe Sullivan would be erased.

If anyone ever did track down her Yaris in the thousands of spaces in the multi-level complex, they'd find her fully packed suitcase in the trunk. The charred remains of her drivers license, birth certificate, passport, SIM and credit cards would be in the bottom of a barrel in Suicide Slum.

Hearing the shower running, she stood and went to the door, twisting the cap off the little brown bottle. She swallowed the contents before leaving her picture and the bottle where Oliver always left his keys when he stayed over, so he would find them.

Touching the door to the bathroom, she stared at it as though looking through it at her cousin. "Goodbye, Lois."

**.  
Four months later**

Lois saw the fear in his eyes, and felt the same fear in her own heart. She knew the risks, what they were up against. Something intangible that would patiently wait for them to fall-doubt, judge, distrust, turn on themselves, each other. It only had to have a tiny sliver of an opening to drive that thin edge of the wedge home till it could brand itself inside them.

They promised to be open with one another, to trust each other. To be a partnership. By bringing her to Watchtower, bringing her into the team, she knew that Clark was trying to do that. To cement their relationship and faith in each other. But there was a big part of herself that she'd been holding back. It had started at Oliver's press conference and that seed of doubt and concern had only grown over the continuing days, which had turned into weeks and now months that she hadn't seen or heard from her cousin. There was going off the grid for some time off, and there was disappearing without a trace.

Oliver had admitted to her himself that Chloe wasn't on vacation. And the way he'd said it-his expression, what he'd done exposing his identity, how he was behaving now-like his life alone had no worth unless it was serving the team or the people. He'd lost his heart. He'd lost his sense of purpose, the reason he'd donned the costume again in the first place. She'd remembered what her father had gone through when her mother had died, and how Ollie was acting right now was reminding her of that all over again. Chloe had done something big, something important and unavoidable, and they were all tip-toeing around it, ignoring the elephant in the room.

Chloe had always been unnaturally talented with computers. When Jimmy had claimed she'd been picked up by DDS on suspected charges of terrorism for hacking government databases and satellites, while Lois had believed Chloe was capable of doing what they claimed, she didn't for one second believe it was for the reasons they were charging her with. She'd recruited her father into trying to clear Chloe's name, investigating her own suspicions when it turned out that the DDS hadn't even heard of her.

Considering Lex was no longer in the picture, there was only one other target who fit the MO, the Luthor wanna-be-that she could turned her attention to. Tess. The woman had tried to kill her last year, going pro-smackdown in the Daily Planet basement. She had no respect for personal property either; Lois knew for a fact that Tess had broken into her desk and her computer numerous times. Jeff, her favorite intern, was her secret spy. Yet, here she was a part of Clark and Oliver's team, in what she was sure was Chloe's domain.

Didn't anyone wonder why Lex had named Tess his successor? She might have the boys fooled, but Chloe missing and the woman making herself at home in the apartment that Jimmy had bought for Chloe just screamed ten levels of wrong to her.

She'd changed a bandage on the back of Chloe's head after their pixie-dust Valentine's Day debacle and she'd had to guilt-trip her cousin into confessing how she'd got it. Tess had been the culprit on that one too.

Lois didn't buy for a second that Tess had suddenly become a team player without some hidden agenda. While she wasn't completely sold on the idea that Tess might be a mole for this Omega threat, she did know for a fact that her gut told her never to trust a Luthor, even a Luthor stand-in.

The only reason she was going to be playing nice was because she believed in the strategy of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. Clark believed that Tess was turning over a new leaf. Not only had she kept his secret and helped protect him from Checkmate, according to Clark, but she was proving to be a valuable ally and useful addition to the team. Lois felt instinctively that was only due to the void that Chloe had left behind. Now that she knew Clark's secret, why those two had been best friends and attached at the hip for so many years, Chloe his best friend, confidant and sidekick, made perfect sense. And now she was sure that Chloe had been the same for Ollie too. Oliver felt guilty about losing her. He felt responsible somehow, which was why she was confronting Clark and not him about this.

"I let it go when Chloe left abruptly for her impromptu vacation," Lois confessed. "I didn't even mention anything when she didn't turn up for her high school reunion, where she could have gotten to meet those cute Torch reporters who idolize her and relive her prom queen victory, even if _that_ was one crazy weird night, but to let Ms. Mercer take over her loft? That's one I'm not letting slide. What's going on, Clark? I know you may think it's not your secret to tell, but this is Chloe we're talking about-my baby cousin, who over the years has gotten possessed, tortured, locked up, experimented on, kidnapped by homicidal maniacs and pretty much abused in every manner possible. And don't give me the_ 'Chloe's a big girl, she can take care of herself'_ speech. Chloe's the worst at taking care of herself. She can take care of everyone else just fine, she's always putting everyone else first, but when it comes to her own well-being, her safety and her heart, she's her own worst enemy." Lois bit her lip and clenched her fists angrily. She should have noticed. Chloe had been really stand-offish and on edge the last time she'd seen her. She should have dug a little deeper.

Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Clark's hands tighten on the steering wheel. "The night I sent the Kandorians away, and you saved me, Oliver got taken by a specialized covert team called the Suicide Squad. They wanted to recruit us. Chloe was determined to get him back. She found the information she needed to track the people down who had him, and we think she might have traded herself. Oliver told me that she took cyanide." At Lois's sharp intake of breath, he continued quickly, "But she took an antidote. I don't know how exactly it works, but I believe she's alive, Lois."

Lois nodded numbly and looked outside at the autumn rain pelting against the window. She would know if Chloe was dead. She would. Last time she'd heard Chloe had been killed she didn't believe it. And she'd been right. It was a cover up, her Dad and Lex responsible for faking her cousin's death so she'd be safe until Lionel's trial.

"When she didn't come back after two weeks and there was no email, postcard or phone call, I did a little digging. She bought a ticket to Amsterdam but she never boarded. And she checked into Long Term Parking but when they tried to deduct the monthly fee, it was declined. I got alerted when the credit company tried to track her down. I asked a guy at the CCTV security company to go through the archives and track her car. We found it. Her suitcase was still in the trunk." Lois turned to look at him and saw Clark glancing at her sadly. "Why would she lie unless she did it to protect me, to protect the rest of us? Clark, she had to know that I'd never give up on her. She's my family. I love her like a sister, she left everything behind, and for what? To protect Oliver, to get him back? If she really is still out there, why hasn't she made contact?"

"Maybe it's because of this threat. Maybe she saw the future and she's staying away to help us. You met Dr. Fate last year. He said that we'd play a big part in each other's future, do you remember that?"

"The cryptic guy in the museum with the cool outfit and the glowing gold helmet?"

"Yes, Dr. Fate. Well, Chloe used his helmet to find Oliver. The helmet can show you the future. It can also make you crazy with the knowledge it holds. When I found Chloe after she'd used the helmet she was unconscious. I don't know everything she saw, but she said that she saw me and that I wasn't wearing black anymore. I only just started wearing red again. If she saw that far into the future then she knows about the Darkness. I'm sure of it. Maybe she has a plan. Chloe's always had faith in everyone, more than we believe in ourselves. When Zatanna put that hex on us a couple years ago, Chloe reminded me of who I was. And she pushed Oliver to his limits to remind him of who he was too."

"Huh," Lois said, her smile growing. "That was her play I stormed on Ollie's birthday. What can I say, Chloe's never been one to do anything halfway."

Clark smiled briefly before his eyes turned serious again. "I've had to learn the hard way to trust in my friends. To believe that they have my back. Chloe's never given me a reason to doubt that she's always going to protect me, any way she can. She'll do the same for any of us. We weren't very open or supportive of each other last year, and I blame myself a lot for that, for walking away from our friendship after Jimmy died. I should have been there for her. I should have realized that being a team meant that sometimes making mistakes means learning from them, helping to build a stronger team, not walking away."

With a heavy heart, Lois relaxed her hands and smoothed them down her pants. Letting out a slow, long breath, she faced Clark. "If she erased her past on purpose, I guess I have to trust her for now. It's gotta be killing her to let go but I'm glad it's her, Clark, and not me. I couldn't do this on my own. I couldn't stay away." Lois worried her bottom lip and blinked back tears. Chloe was watching all their backs, and for her cousin's sake and Clark's, she was going to watch Tess, because she was sure that there was something going on under the surface. One didn't just get declared dead at Met Gen from heart failure due to third degree burns to the face, and resurface without so much as a fading scar two days later.

Tess had said her high tech spy cam set-up was now her very own Big Sister Eye In The Sky. She was no Chloe, but she considered herself a fast learner and she was going to put those systems to work. First task, doing a thorough background check on Tess, unearthing any possible secret the redhead could possibly try to keep hidden- starting with that strange remark Kat had made about why Tess would keep a photo and file on a kid that wasn't her son. Staring out the window, she wiped away a stray tear. "Stay safe, baby cuz. Please come back soon."

FIN


End file.
